Leeds United have allowed a host of first-team players to move on from Elland Road this summer but are trying to keep hold of Wilfried Gnonto.
Who has left Leeds this summer?
Robin Koch, Brenden Aaronson, Max Wober, Marc Roca, and Rasmus Kristensen have all left the club on loan deals until the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
Rodrigo, Tyler Roberts, Joel Robles, and Adam Forshaw have also departed the Yorkshire-based outfit either on permanent or free transfers.
However, they are not prepared to let Gnonto leave without a fight. The Italy international was absent for the League Cup win over Shrewsbury after he asked to be left out of the squad.
He is now back in training and is expected to be with the team for the Championship clash with Birmingham City, with The Athletic’s Phil Hay reporting that the club are resisting the temptation to cash in on him.
If Leeds are able to keep hold of the talented youngster, Daniel Farke could land Gnonto a dream partner in attack by signing reported transfer target Joel Pohjanpalo, who reportedly has a release clause of €4m (£3.4m).
How good is Joel Pohjanpalo?
The Venezia centre-forward is coming off the back of an impressive campaign in Serie B and could be the ideal player to play alongside the Italian dynamo this season.
Pohjanpalo is a physically imposing striker who “creates problems” – as per journalist Josh Bunting – for defenders with his strength, which could allow him to complement Gnonto as the 19-year-old ace is not a towering attacker who can bully the opposition.
Last season, the teenage wizard won 0.3 aerial battles per game across the Premier League campaign and lost a whopping 69% of his duels in the air.
Whereas, the Finland international won 2.9 aerial contests per match for Venezia and came out on top in 51% of that type of physical duel, which shows that the 28-year-old brute is strong in the air and capable of holding off opposition defenders to win flick-ons and hold the ball up.
This means that Pohjanpalo could be the focal point of Farke’s attack and this would allow Gnonto to use his sharpness and pace to make things happen around the ex-Bayer Leverkusen forward.
The current Leeds attacker ranked within the top 13% of his positional peers for progressive carries per 90 in the Premier League last season. This suggests that the talented hotshot excels at picking up the ball in deep positions to drive the team up the pitch.
He would, therefore, be suited to a deeper role – possibly as a number ten – behind Pohjanpalo to utilise their respective strengths in the best possible way as an exciting pairing at the top end of the pitch.
Pohjanpalo could also be a fantastic addition to the squad as he is a proven goalscorer. The Finnish marksman racked up 19 goals in 37 Serie B matches for Venezia last term, which is six more than any Whites player managed throughout the 2022/23 top-flight campaign.
Therefore, the reported Leeds target could improve Farke’s options in attack and provide him with the perfect foil for Gnonto, if the club can keep hold of the ex-Inter prodigy.
